Topic: favourite 'sitcoms' (Read 29187 times)

soap · « **on:** 30 Jul 2005, 14:24 »

spaced, seinfeld and recently scrubs ... they're the only ones that i actaully laugh out loud at, even after multiple viewings (of the first 2 on dvd).

one of the great things about seinfeld is that instead of trying to have soapopera type stories like most america sitcoms, these guys totally don't care, they're neurotic and are all bascially out for themselves. so no sloppy mush, just really good humour.

spaced...well, if you've seen it i won't really have to explain how great it is.

and scrubs, lights up friday evening telly like a giant humour ball ready to shatter the endless friends repeats and inane will&grace blabber to bits

oh, also black adder and the earlier series of red dwarf as well , but ive not seen them for ages.

trolley · « **Reply #1 on:** 30 Jul 2005, 16:58 »

Spaced and Scrubs. I'm just constantly dissappointed cos i keep missing it's early friday night timeslot.

Willis · « **Reply #2 on:** 30 Jul 2005, 18:00 »

Quote from: soap

one of the great things about seinfeld is that instead of trying to have soapopera type stories like most america sitcoms, these guys totally don't care, they're neurotic and are all bascially out for themselves. so no sloppy mush, just really good humour.

Yeah, I totally agree. Seinfeld is my all-time favorite show. I've been watching the first 3 seasons on DVD. There is an option for "Notes About Nothing." Basically they are little blurbs that pop up on the screen and offer some insight into the episode being shown. What's great is that Larry [David] and Jerry were not trying to make a "there is a lesson here" traditional sitcom. They stuck to a policy of no hugging, no moral and the end of the story. And it worked great. Yes it took a few years to catch on, but catch on it did. And like most of the great sitcoms, the episodes hold up over time. I mean watch the Cosby Show from 20 years ago and the topics are still relevant, and more importantly, funny. One thing that I particularly enjoyed about Seinfeld is the last episode. A lot of people were critical of they way it ended. I think its great that 1) they [the writers & creators] did it on their own terms and 2) related it all to their behavior during the series. That episode holds up particularly well over time.

~~Willis

practicality · « **Reply #3 on:** 30 Jul 2005, 19:35 »

I think a big reason Seinfeld was (and is) successful because of overlapping story lines. Even in the 'Chinese Restaurant', there's the George/girlfriend story line and Jerry/uncle's dinner story line, and all the while they're just trying to get a table so they can see a movie.

Ozymandias · « **Reply #4 on:** 30 Jul 2005, 20:56 »

Since I only get American sitcoms, my only answer is Scrubs.

Zach Braff is my hero.

I did however, enjoy Committed while it was on too.

IronOxide · « **Reply #5 on:** 30 Jul 2005, 21:47 »

Scrubs and Seinfeld, bitches. Two masterfully written and acted shows but for two completely different reasons. One offers a good story with deep character development and the other just displays somerather twisted individuals hanging about the city with different girlfriends every day.

Go on, guess which is which.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #6 on:** 30 Jul 2005, 22:42 »

Coupling.

I win.

Also, Blackadder and Red Dwarf of course, though they're particularly unusual 'Sitcoms'...what would you count as a Sitcom anyway? Fawlty towers maybe?

tigerlily · « **Reply #7 on:** 31 Jul 2005, 03:49 »

Quote from: KharBevNor

Coupling.

AGREED
This show is the best freaking sitcom ever. I have peed my pants laughing so many times watching it. The episode "Naked" hand me and about 6 or 7 friends literally rolling on the floor incapacitated with laughter. I still totally crack up every time I watch it, and I've seen it numerous times.

Do you know if they are planning a fifth season ever??!

KharBevNor · « **Reply #8 on:** 31 Jul 2005, 05:40 »

Not sure...to be really honest, I didn't like it half as much after Jeff left. It's not just that Jeff was insanely hilarious on his own, but his interaction with Steve in particular was great.

Inlander · « **Reply #9 on:** 31 Jul 2005, 05:49 »

Plus, once Jeff left didn't they just try to put in a Jeff substitute? Didn't they introduce a character who was exactly like Jeff, only lame and annoying because it was such an obviously desperate ploy on behalf of the show's producers or writers or whoever?

Ehh, the first season of that show was very entertaining. It was downhill after that, as far as I'm concerned.

soap · « **Reply #10 on:** 31 Jul 2005, 05:49 »

the last coupling wasn't as good as the first few series...jeff really was great

salada · « **Reply #11 on:** 31 Jul 2005, 08:38 »

black books!

leave town with an orange, and pretend you're laughing at it.

bernard black is my hero.

5thWheel · « **Reply #12 on:** 31 Jul 2005, 09:10 »

Well they're not really a sitcoms I guess but I loved Catterick & Series 1 & 3 of The League Of Gentleman (film sucked tho). I gave my s/o a home-made Papa Lazarou sock-monkey last christmas, it sits on our shelves and exudes evil. (Spaced, 1st series of Black Books & Coupling /w Jeoff also all ace, I agree).

soap · « **Reply #13 on:** 31 Jul 2005, 12:22 »

i never saw much of black books... wish i had seen more now, people tell me stuff about it and i think "i would've loved this show, why did i never watch"

Tinjessla · « **Reply #14 on:** 31 Jul 2005, 13:17 »

The already mentioned Spaced rocks my pink polka dotted socks.

Quote from: salada

black books!

leave town with an orange, and pretend you're laughing at it.

bernard black is my hero.

Hoorah! Today, i re-watched the first series to remind myself of how great it is.

"My, would you just look at these....breasts!"

thehoopiestfrood · « **Reply #15 on:** 31 Jul 2005, 15:38 »

I love that whole group of incestuous comedies featuring the same people, such as Spaced, Black Books, LoG etc.

Also: Arrested Development.

Really there are so many though I don't know where to start!

tigerlily · « **Reply #16 on:** 31 Jul 2005, 16:12 »

Quote from: Inlander

Plus, once Jeff left didn't they just try to put in a Jeff substitute? Didn't they introduce a character who was exactly like Jeff, only lame and annoying because it was such an obviously desperate ploy on behalf of the show's producers or writers or whoever?

Ehh, the first season of that show was very entertaining. It was downhill after that, as far as I'm concerned.

yarrr they put that Oliver character in there. Who totally pissed me off, cause he was such a moron. I mean... Jeff was a moron, but... it was Jeff! Blah.

Anypiddle, yeah, it slowly went downhill, but the first two seasons still were fantastic.

I've never seen the American version, but I hear they destroyed it pretty good.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #17 on:** 31 Jul 2005, 16:27 »

I hear the American version was like a shite friends with 0.1% more sex jokes. Instead of half hour slices of cleverly plotted innuendo and Jeff advancing his theories on the sock gap or the zone. And, let us not forget, his utterly immortal attempt to chat up a woman who did not speak English.

"Not that you look like a serial killer or anything!"

But Richard Coyle, who plays Jeff, is just a great actor. I've seen him on the stage in The York Realist, and he was smokin', totally different role as well. Him and Jack Davenport were the main axis of talent in the series, though none of the actors were bad. Davenport really needs to be in more stuff: he was totally ace in Fierce Creatures (which I think was his first film) and Ultraviolet, and seems to be back on the big screen with Pirtates of the Caribbean.

It could never have worked without Jeff though, tbh.

thehoopiestfrood · « **Reply #18 on:** 01 Aug 2005, 01:23 »

I still think Jack Davenport would have made a perfect Arthur Dent in the film (not that Martin Freeman was bad).

I saw Coyle in some scary murder film - I don't know the name but it was very good.

The last series of Coupling was pretty awful, especially the ending with the baby, but I have to say I did enjoy Jeff coming back as a woman just for the strangeness of it.

patch · « **Reply #19 on:** 01 Aug 2005, 01:53 »

andy richter controls the universe. i saw two episodes but damn. best 2am show ever.
full house. uncle joey! crazy!
black books and spaced. both are good.
and hey dad.

tigerlily · « **Reply #20 on:** 01 Aug 2005, 03:41 »

Ahh indeed, Jeff coming back as a woman in the last episode was entertaining

The only thing that I have seen Jack Davenport in is Pirates of the Caribean, as I don't get the BBC here at all in Canada.

The writing for that show though is just positively uncanny. The way that they can tie things together and play off past storylines. Brilliant.

Faker · « **Reply #21 on:** 02 Aug 2005, 08:52 »

Well obvious my vote goes for Spaced.

But apart from that, The simpsons (yes it is a sitcom), Blackadder, Seinfeld, have all got to be up there

ThinkDifferent · « **Reply #22 on:** 02 Aug 2005, 17:03 »

I'm more into British sitcoms - here's my top 10:

1. Only Fools and Horses (UK)
2. Scrubs (US)
3. Fawlty Towers (UK)
4. Frasier (US)
5. Keeping Up Appearances (UK)
6. The Vicar of Dibley (UK)
7. Friends (US)
8. Everybody Loves Raymond (US)
9. Absolutely Fabulous (UK)
10. Sex and the City (US)

I'm surprised at how few Americans have heard of Only Fools and Horses - I guess they don't show it here because it's just too British. Also, I have to admit to never seeing either Blackadder or Seinfeld - both of which I notice are popular in this thread.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #23 on:** 02 Aug 2005, 17:15 »

If you love the above (especially Fawlty Towers) Blackadder is a must. Red Dwarf also, if only if it helps you understand why one of my personal catchphrases is:

"Rasputin! Bring forth the

and remove his trousers!"

I is Grammar · « **Reply #24 on:** 02 Aug 2005, 18:19 »

I'll give a penny to anyone who has seen this particular sitcom. Are You Being Served

"It's only meee!"

Edit'd for stupidity in punctuation.

Inlander · « **Reply #25 on:** 02 Aug 2005, 18:35 »

I take your penny, and keep it at the ready to ram down my own throat and choke to death upon it lest I should ever be forced to watch another second of Are You Being Served.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #26 on:** 02 Aug 2005, 22:49 »

My sister owns the DVD box set of that show.

*cries*

Faker · « **Reply #27 on:** 03 Aug 2005, 01:27 »

Quote from: ThinkDifferent

5. Keeping Up Appearances (UK)
6. The Vicar of Dibley (UK)

You wouldn't happen to be a 40 year old woman by any chance?

Man I hate those shows.

salada · « **Reply #28 on:** 03 Aug 2005, 08:53 »

Quote from: ThinkDifferent

8. Everybody Loves Raymond (US)

oh man. that show is terrible. i cannot stand it. at all. (US sitcoms annoy me in general, but raymond takes the cake.)

points for ab fab, though...

heretic · « **Reply #29 on:** 03 Aug 2005, 09:04 »

^agree'd it is the worst.
i loathe all sitcoms really. i used to watch em, but stop for a while and then go back to television and you feel physical pain. i hate it TV now, i'll watch something like CSI with my family every now and then, but sitcoms make me want to kill myself. honestly, maybe if they wrote some believable charaters or some dillemas that couldn't be solved with one, very simple, very obvious, explanation or confession or whatever.
Fuck Em

Maui · « **Reply #30 on:** 03 Aug 2005, 11:07 »

I bet heretics a closet Friends fan............

heretic · « **Reply #31 on:** 03 Aug 2005, 11:09 »

watched it with my mom. didn't mind it when i was younger, but stop watching for a week or so and you won't be able to stand it.

Maui · « **Reply #32 on:** 03 Aug 2005, 11:13 »

Ha, i like it. What can i say, i live in the middle of nowhere. Woohoo for being almost right though!

heretic · « **Reply #33 on:** 03 Aug 2005, 11:14 »

probably the closet you get to the "Big City" is watching friends, huh?

Maui · « **Reply #34 on:** 03 Aug 2005, 11:20 »

Ha, you could say that. Whats sad is i live about a half hour from a semi large city and about an hour away from Buffalo, NY. (you may have heard of it, second largest city in NY state, used to be a thriving city to live in).
We're just that secluded i guess. Large hole in the ground i like to refer to it as.

heretic · « **Reply #35 on:** 03 Aug 2005, 11:39 »

buf-a-low?? i've never heard of it.... must be new. springs up over night like McDonalds.

[/scathing sarcasm]

ThinkDifferent · « **Reply #36 on:** 03 Aug 2005, 18:28 »

I'm not a 40 year old woman - I just like British humor. I agree that Everybody Loves Raymond is generally pretty crap, but the odd hilarious moment sort of compensates for it.

Faker · « **Reply #37 on:** 04 Aug 2005, 01:49 »

Hope you took the "40 year old woman" statement as the joke it was intended as.

I love British humour too, would consider shows like Fawlty Towers and Blackadder etc to be the quintessential examples of British humour.

However, the vicar of dibley and keeping up appearances are, in my opinion, just lazy, cliché driven, and old fashioned. It's like they were written by former Butlins red coats. In fact what really surprises me is that the vicar of dibley and blackadder were both written by Richard Curtis, how one man could produce two shows which are the antithesis of each other astounds me!

Inlander · « **Reply #38 on:** 04 Aug 2005, 04:48 »

It's because on Blackadder he had Ben Elton helping him out. Ben Elton wasn't there for the first season, or at least not the beginning of it - and look at the difference between it and the next season.

tetsuotheironboy · « **Reply #39 on:** 25 Aug 2005, 11:15 »

Manny (Bill Bailey) on why he has to return to black books after a brief stint as a model for a very sleazy arabic man making obscure japanese beard based pornography...

"there are some things that money can't buy. Like the love I found in a little bookshop off Russell Square. Yes, love. You know, not, well, not love so much more... more... freedom! You know, fre... well, not really freedom, more a largeness of heart. Well, not really a largeness of heart... or freedom... or love. But I was never contractually obliged to sleep with foreign businessmen, alright?"

Black Books is the most wonderful comedy shows in the history of comedy shows. Yes thats a little bit of hyperbole there but anyone who's seen it knows why its that impressive

Merkava · « **Reply #40 on:** 25 Aug 2005, 12:57 »

Quote from: Awkward Silence

Oh man, I forgot Andy Richter Controls The Universe, that show ruled!

Fuck yeah it did.

Anywho...

I absolutely love Scrubs, but it's annoying when it focuses on the relationship- section of the doctors' lives. I wanted to puke upon watching the first-season verbal intercourse between the main character and his co-worker love interest with the bad hair.

Nettle · « **Reply #41 on:** 25 Aug 2005, 22:43 »

The Mighty Boosh (i'm TOTALLY obsessed with it right now... it really cheers me up every time i watch it.), Maid Marian and Her Merry Men (i've been a big fan of this since 99, but hardly anyone has seen it/can remember it properly, and it hasn't been shown recently.), Black Books, Spaced, Red Dwarf, Blackadder...

shrimp · « **Reply #42 on:** 26 Aug 2005, 06:38 »

I remember Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, I used to watch it! Yey! for remembering stuff!

I watch loads of TV (usually whilst on my laptop) but teres very few things I make an effort to see, I like Red Dwarf, Spaced, Tripping the Rift, Futurama and The Simpsons.

Pity there's more crap on telly than good stuff!

CoinOperatedGirl · « **Reply #43 on:** 26 Aug 2005, 07:29 »

I'm a big fan of Malcolm in the Middle, and Scrubs. I've recently started watching House. Never thought I'd like a medical 'drama' but he is the biggest sarcastic bastard of a character I've ever seen on tv. It's hilarious.

thehoopiestfrood · « **Reply #44 on:** 26 Aug 2005, 08:22 »

House is fantastic, and the fact that it's Hugh freaking Laurie blows my mind.

And freaks me out a lot.

Switchblade · « **Reply #45 on:** 26 Aug 2005, 20:46 »

Just been introduced to "Everybody Loves Raymond"

'tis funny.

Merkava · « **Reply #46 on:** 26 Aug 2005, 20:56 »

Quote from: CoinOperatedGirl

I'm a big fan of Malcolm in the Middle, and Scrubs. I've recently started watching House. Never thought I'd like a medical 'drama' but he is the biggest sarcastic bastard of a character I've ever seen on tv. It's hilarious.

House is awesome, but he is nothing against the mass of sardonic glee that is Dr. Cox!

offcitylimits · « **Reply #47 on:** 27 Aug 2005, 15:41 »

Quote from: salada

black books!

leave town with an orange, and pretend you're laughing at it.

bernard black is my hero.

hell. yes. Black Books is awesome. The 3 DVD set is worth picking up.

Apart from that, I am totally addicted to Scrubs, although I only have Season 1 on DVD. I can't be arsed to keep up with it on TV. I also like to keep it old school style with some Frasier and That '70s Show.

Nettle · « **Reply #48 on:** 27 Aug 2005, 18:08 »

:D Do you know that that 'little book of calm' in Black Books is a REAL BOOK!! I got it for my Black Books fan best friend!! It even has the one about rolling up your sleeves, and the 'if you can't find something funny to laugh at, pretend you have, and then laugh'. Of course the ones where it's all crazy and mixed up aren't in there.

liberation_party · « **Reply #49 on:** 29 Aug 2005, 22:50 »

In response to the previous discussion of Keeping Up Appearances, I have to confess it to be the source of numerous hilarious family in-jokes, but only because my mother is obsessed with it. I suppose it's like watching a truly dreadful movie, but with a pack of moderately-drunk friends. Hilarity ensues!

Of course, I'm somewhat attached to Full House, myself, so any mockery of my mother's viewing weaknesses begs an introduction between Pot and Kettle. I began watching that show in the first grade. It was my very favorite. And even now, despite the shmaltzy morals and canned audience "awww"s, I still giggle at everyone's trite little catchphrases.

Nowadays, I think TV is crap. Nearly all of it. I don't own a television -- it just isn't worth it for me. I got to watch the first few seasons of the British Coupling on DVD, though, and I agree that they were brilliant. The character of The Melty Man was just... odd... but most of their freakish ideas panned out to comedic gold. I wish there were more shows like that.

Not a sitcom: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! That show was freaking AWESOME!

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: favourite 'sitcoms' (Read 29187 times)

soap

trolley

Willis

practicality

tigerlily

soap

5thWheel

soap

Tinjessla

thehoopiestfrood

tigerlily

thehoopiestfrood

patch

tigerlily

ThinkDifferent

heretic

Maui

heretic

Maui

heretic

Maui

heretic

ThinkDifferent

tetsuotheironboy

Merkava

shrimp

CoinOperatedGirl

thehoopiestfrood

Merkava

offcitylimits

liberation_party